Side Effects
by Vixen Argentum
Summary: While struggling with severe insomnia, Eren is prescribed a medication to help with sleep. The medication is a godsend, yet it has one side effect that Eren struggles with: vivid and abnormal dreams about a man he's never met.


I didn't mean to start something else. But I guess my brain is just EreRi all the time now. Not that this is a bad thing. Anyway, this fic is M for nonexplicit sex. If that bothers you, then please read another fic.

This fic just sort of jumped out at me from left field yesterday afternoon, so I'm still adjusting to having it in my head.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Eren Jaeger…"

Eren sat in the waiting room, eyes glazed over in exhaustion. He continued to stare at the magazine open on his lap, but he couldn't make sense of any of the lines of text; he could only focus word by word. Each word sort of floated around in his head, freely associating with one another into nonsensical phrases. They repeated, over and over. _Fascist ingredient stopping jargon. Fellow therein shaken funeral._ Eren closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

"Excuse me, is there an Eren Jaeger here?"

Eren was jolted back into reality. He looked up at the nurse dressed in a brightly colored dinosaur printed set of scrubs with a confused look on his face.

"Eren? I'm going to need you to follow me," she said cheerfully.

Eren slowly pulled himself off of the waiting room chair. He half walked, half stumbled over to her. Like a zombie, he schlepped himself onto the scale while she got his weight. She spoke to him, tongue fluttering with small talk, to which he grunted answers that he hoped were right. It wasn't like he could concentrate on a word she was saying. Everything was like a fly, buzz buzz buzzing in his head.

She led him into a small room with an examination table and took his blood pressure and pulse. The blood pressure cuff had gone a bit too tight and now his arm was throbbing. Great, something else to worry about.

"Hmmm, both your blood pressure and heart rate are a little high, but that will probably go away soon. A lack of sleep can do that," she assured. "Just wait here and the doctor will be in to see you."

Eren gazed at the posters on the walls. The one on the wall showing the bones of the human skeleton began to jitter around, waving back and forth. _Eren…_ the skeleton said, _spring believer sweat beloved…_ Ugh. Not this again.

Eren closed his eyes and curled up on the examination table, trying to limit the amount of the world that he was taking in, but his brain did enthusiastic cartwheels within the confines of his skull even in the silent darkness.

The door burst open, the hinge creaking the doctor's arrival. Eren opened his eyes and sat up on the edge of the table. The man before him was in his early forties, rather tall with sandy colored hair. Eren didn't have a regular doctor, but his best friend Armin saw this one, and he took the recommendation.

"Hello Eren, I am Dr. Sina. What seems to be the problem that brings you in today?"

"I can't sleep," said Eren. "No matter what I try, I can't seem to do it."

"You can't sleep at all? Or are you just having trouble sleeping?" Dr. Sina tapped a pen to his lips.

Eren looked at the doctor with his bloodshot eyes. "I've been awake for six days," he slurred. "Nothing helps."

Dr. Sina's eyebrows jumped. He scribbled some notes on his clipboard. "That's quite serious. Why didn't you call earlier?"

"I dunno. Can't think straight," Eren fell back on the table. "To be honest, I thought it would go away. I've tried exercise, warm baths, chamomile, melatonin, and everything else I could think of."

"I see," said the doctor. "That was a good effort. Have you stayed away from caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol?"

"I don't smoke, I haven't drank, and I stopped drinking coffee after day three," said Eren.

The doctor stroked his chin. "Have you felt anxious at all, about anything specific or general? What has your mood been like?"

"Doctor, all I've felt is a lot of nothing. Just apathy," Eren said. "I'm not stressed out either."

Dr. Sina sighed. "You're a tough nut to crack, Eren. I'm going to prescribe you a prescription sleep aid, and if that doesn't work, I'll refer you to a sleep clinic and possibly get some scans." He smiled. "Don't worry, we'll figure this out."

"Yeah, thanks." Eren accepted the script and stumbled over to the door.

After paying for his visit, he filled the prescription at the pharmacy next door. The bus would come soon; he wouldn't dare drive in this condition. He slouched down on the bench at the bus stop until it came to pick him up. Luckily it was merely a ten minute bus ride to his apartment.

Eren staggered up the stairs to his second floor apartment. He pushed the door open anemically, making his way to the cupboard. The medicine vial was filled with tiny yellow pills. As much as he felt like shoveling in the whole 14 day supply, he pulled one out, swallowing it with a gulp of water. Ugh, it had such an acrid, bitter taste.

The sheets of his bed felt divine on his skin as he settled into it. He nestled into his pillow and stared at the ceiling. Would this even work? He was kind of doubting it at this point, but with the blinds drawn and the curtains pulled tight, the room was black and inviting.

The thoughts softened and quieted. The peace was velveteen. Soon, without fail, Eren had drifted off to sleep.

xXx

Eren stared into the grey eyes that looked gold in the faint firelight. He knew this man somehow; his name was Levi. He was humanity's finest soldier, the crown jewel of the military. And even more than that, he was _his._

"Quiet!" Levi whispered harshly. "Do you want everyone to hear you?"

Eren leaned forward and kissed his lips. "It's not like they don't know what we're doing anyway."

"Really, Eren? You're okay with attracting some other soldier's horny ass over here to watch us?" Levi hissed.

Eren sighed. "Sorry, it's just I can't always help it. It all feels so good."

The wind picked up, blowing against Eren's skin. He looked down to see that he wore nothing below the waist. It was exciting, the thrill of being outside, the chance they might be found.

Levi lay on his back and undid the buckles of his harness around his hips. Frantically, he undid his pants, sliding the waistband down his thighs. Eren knelt, straddling his waist. He could feel Levi's hand under him, slicking him as he entered with his fingers. Eren closed his eyes and sucked in a breath, relaxing himself under Levi's touch. The hand withdrew and he guided Eren's hips backward and positioned him gently.

Eren sat down, easing his way on top of Levi, mind growing more blank with every inch he took into his body. With Levi sheathed within him, he leaned forward catching Levi's glassy eyed, openmouthed expression. Levi slid his hands up Eren's bare thighs, and scratched his way down them.

"Ride me," he commanded. Eren blushed; no one had ever looked at him with that much desire, like he was more precious than air to a drowning man.

Eren began to rock his hips forward and backward, feeling Levi's length shift in and out. Levi's hands snaked up his chest, and then gently traced down, back to his hips. The skin left behind felt set ablaze and Eren bit his hand to keep from crying out. Levi's eyes went wide.

"Oh for fucks sake, if you need to cover up a sound, bite me instead, damn it. If I have to explain any accidents on your part—"

Eren silenced him with a kiss. He picked up the pace and rode him harder, bending over and biting Levi's shoulder instead. Now Levi began to assist with Eren's work, pushing and pulling with his hands on Eren's hips, calling on the immense power in his arms and shoulders.

Oh Eren was close. He was so close. He closed his eyes and threw his head back, making his rhythm even harder and faster. It was too late; Levi would just have to be mad. Now, right now, he was going to be screaming just as he…

xXx

Eren woke up with a start. His skin burned hot and he threw off his covers. The bedsheets below him were drenched in sweat and his hair was slick and stuck to his face. He throbbed with morning wood or at least the wood of whatever time it was. Stretching his arms and legs, he rolled over to look at his clock.

Apparently he had slept for 24 whole hours. He still felt groggy, but it wasn't the same unsettled feeling in his mind, like he was floating in demented fantasy land. He was very clearly on earth, though it felt like the gravity was turned up an extra G.

That dream…

Eren closed his eyes and dragged his hands down his chest, remembering the touch of those other hands, the hands that reached for him ardently. It was all so vivid, like his memory was a virtuoso of cinematography. He shook his head, trying to clear it away, but the memories of the sounds, the scenes, the touch all clung to him.

He was getting worked up over something that never happened. It was fake. A figment of his imagination. An incubus in the night.

_Levi._

Eren had heard somewhere that in dreams you only saw faces that you had seen before, but he was pretty sure that was a bunch of bullshit. He'd never met a man who viewed the world through those heavy-lidded calculating eyes. He'd never met a man who he wanted to look at him as something precious and something to be broken at the same time. Hell, it was the first time he ever thought about another man that way, and his subconscious didn't even give it a second thought.

Eren sauntered into the bathroom and turned the shower on full force. He let the frigid water rush over his body. It was painful, like his body was trying to escape his skin, and his heart pounded with the shock. He stood under the showerhead as long as he could bear and then jumped backwards out of the stream, readjusting the temperature knobs. Quickly, he caught his breath. There, now he was awake.

Done with his shower, Eren pulled a frozen dinner out of the freezer. The clock in the kitchen read 6:00 PM. Great, now he had to figure out how to sleep at a normal time again. He supposed he would just stay up this night and go to bed a little early the next night. He'd done that once when he had to recover from major jet lag.

He glanced at the bottle of pills that was still on the kitchen counter, unmoved from yesterday evening. Spinning it slowly in his fingers, he read the side effects. _Dizziness, dry mouth, confusion, indigestion_, it read. Hmmm, he had nothing like that. Then there it was: _abnormal or vivid dreams_.

Eren hated to rely on medications for anything. He suffered alone against colds and usually just waited out whatever problems he had, short of a broken bone or something serious. But this thing with sleep, he'd have to see how he felt tomorrow night. If he didn't need these pills, he didn't want to take them, but right now what choice did he have?

Tomorrow he would have to put his life back in order, squaring away his responsibilities. He texted Armin, asking if he wanted to have lunch with him around noon. After all, it was because of him that he actually called the doctor in the first place. Otherwise, Armin was threatening to take him to the emergency room, and that was a more expensive bill. There was no sense in making Armin worry any more. Even worse, he may have pulled his sister Mikasa into it.

His dinner done cooking, he carried it out to the couch and sat himself in front of his TV. Flipping through channels he found a marathon of action movies. Perfect. He just needed something that wasn't too hard to handle. Explosions and fast cars were very easy for his brain to process.

Still, he found himself thinking about the dream. He closed his eyes and saw Levi's face staring back at him, flushed with sex. No, he had to stop thinking about this.

It was a side effect. Just a side effect. A side effect and nothing more.


End file.
